"The Kurdish parliament has decided to adopt a positive position toward the UN Security Council resolution because the entire world has expressed its respect for the fundamental law," said Roj Nuri Shawis, a vice president in Iraq's caretaker government and the Kurdish parliament speaker.

When Washington chooses short-term political gains over long-term strategic advantage, we repeat our worst past errors, from buttressing the Shah of Iran to supporting Saddam Hussein. Appeasement isn't a strategy. Quiet isn't peace. Iraq was quiet under the old regime.

But the battle against Islamic jihad will be going on for a very long time, against a foe that is both ruthless and irrational. This means that infinite patience and scruple and intelligence are required, as well as decisiveness and bravery. Given this necessary assumption, all short-cut artists, let alone rec-room sadists, are to be treated, not as bad apples alone, but as traitors and enemies. If Rumsfeld could bring himself to say that, he could perhaps undo some of the shame, and some of the harm as well.

Credible opinion polls show that a large majority of Iraqis feel better off than a year ago. There is real freedom of the press with newspapers and radio stations mushrooming in the new Iraq. There is unhindered internet access. NGOs covering everything from human rights to women's advocacy have emerged. In short, Iraq is experiencing real freedom for the first time in its history. And that is exactly what the religious fanatics fear.

Either these goons were acting on someone's authority, in which case there is a layer of mid- to high-level people who think that they are not bound by the laws and codes and standing orders. Or they were acting on their own authority, in which case they are the equivalent of mutineers, deserters, or traitors in the field. This is why one asks wistfully if there is no provision in the procedures of military justice for them to be taken out and shot.

Why is international public opinion not outraged at the treatment of women in Islamic fundamentalist societies? Why is it easier for millions of people around the world to see America as the great evil, rather than the countries in which governments ignore such horrific abuses of women?

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A U.S. policy shift that may allow former Baathists join a new Iraqi government was akin to putting back Nazis in charge of Germany, Governing Council member Ahmad Chalabi said on Friday.

MATTHEWS: What’s different?
RUMSFELD: Well, in Vietnam, you had a government that was not a popular government in the south. They didn’t have—hadn’t fashioned their own constitution. They hadn’t had their own elections. They were governments that were considered by the rest of the Vietnamese people to be puppet governments.

Since the US-led operation that led to the toppling of the Saddam regime, the Arab media has played a significant role in providing a one sided perception of the news. This biased reporting has had a considerable impact on opinions around the globe.